The Mark of Athena
by toSempiternity
Summary: The Mark of Athena burns through Rome...A new prophecy brings a new quest. Annabeth struggles with her new role to locate the Doors of Death. While the Greco-Roman alliance grows more strained by the day, she must make a aacrifice to save.


**I  
>ANNABETH<strong>

**NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO WAS** something that was completely new to Annabeth.

The daughter of Athena was known at camp for thinking quickly under pressure. She'd wormed out of plenty of sticky situations by using her wits, but the fact that Leo had completely lost control of the _Argo II_ was making her brain feel like mush. The vertigo of seeing the ground coming at about two hundred miles per hour was making her want to throw up.

"Leo!" Piper screamed, holding on to the railing for dear life, her hair flying up like a torch. "I am _so_ going to kill you after this!"

Annabeth peered over the ship and reeled back as her stomach threatened to rebel. "Gods on Olympus, Leo! Just pump up the brakes or something!"

Leo grunted, his face bright red as he tugged heavily on a lever. "I can't! It's stuck!"

"Oh, Hades," Annabeth muttered, flattening against the captain's cabin. "We're going to crash land, so _hold onto something!_" She grabbed onto a metal bar and squeezed her eyes shut.

The _Argo II_ dropped like a stone into the middle of a small replica of Rome—compared to the actual size of Rome itself. It crash-landed in the middle of a large fountain which went _FWOOOOOSH!_ Due to the large amount of Celestial Bronze plating on the ship, it was completely fine, although Festus's head looked quite rattled.

Leo soothed the dragon head, which was spitting steam and small amounts of fire. "'S okay, Festus...I'll get you fixed right up!"

Jason sat up, groaning and rubbing his head and intelligently said, "Ouch."

Piper sat up, woozy. "I will never fly again," she declared.

"You'll have to, beauty queen!" Leo smiled. "We're flying on this spankin' hot war machine to Rome and Greece!"

"Outstanding," Jason muttered, picking himself off the floor. "That just makes me want to save the world so bad."

Annabeth gazed across the small city, catching sight of a bunch of people streaming towards them. "Leo, exactly _when_ will you lower the gangplank?" Her head had began to spin at the prospect of seeing Percy for the first time in eight **[A.N./ RICK RIORDAN CAN'T DO HIS MATH! The solstices are SIX months apart, and Percy went missing three days before December 18!]** months.

"On it, Owl Head," Leo laughed, pushing a button.

Annabeth impatiently waited for the plank to lower. She couldn't wait any longer as she sprinted down the plank about three seconds before the end of it had touched the cobblestones with a dull _thunk_.

She scanned the crowd before her with an eagle eye. Where was that black hair and sea-green eyes? She could see people with hazel eyes, gray, like her own, brown, blue, green, but not one trace of Percy's unique green eyes or hair. A gray streak in his hair...where in Hades was it?

"Annabeth!" a faint voice called from the rapidly swelling crowd. Percy cut through the mass of Romans and ran towards her, tackling her to the ground. Annabeth winced as some stray rocks bit into her back, but she couldn't worry about that right now. "Percy! You're—going—to—break—my—back!"

Percy got off of her, laughing with his eyes a bit glazed. "I missed you, Wise Girl..."

"_YOU TOTAL DOLT!_" Clarisse charged out of the _Argo II_, glaring at Percy. She jabbed an angry finger at Annabeth. "Jackson, if you _ever_ have the _nerve_ to go missing again, I will break your neck! I swear that your girlfriend lost some of her marbles when you went missing!"

Annabeth sheepishly scuffed the ground with her sneakers in a very un-daughter-of-Athena-ish way.

"Hey!" Percy protested, backing away from the angry daughter of Ares. "It wasn't my idea to go missing! Blame Hera!"

"Kick some butt already, Percy!" somebody yelled from the crowd.

"What?" Clarisse asked in outrage. "Sea spawn? Kick butt? Those words don't fit very well together!"

"So you say," Percy mumbled under his breath.

Annabeth hugged him back. "How did you like your stay at this camp?"

Percy's eyes lighted up. "It was nice! Okay, the low point were the Lares calling me '_graecus_' but really, I liked it here!"

"And here come the Greeks," a voice drawled. A skinny boy in a toga strutted out of the crowd like he was the most important person there ever was.

Annabeth could almost hear Jason scowl behind her as he stepped up to confront the boy. "Octavian. Still the camp augur?"

Octavian laughed and spread his arms wide. "Of course, Jason! What did you expect? Me becoming praetor? Ah, you don't know _how_many days I spent in the Temple of Jupiter, searching for you. But alas, your father did not show any signs!"

"He's talking trash," Percy grumbled.

Annabeth could already tell that there was bad blood between the two boys as they glared at each other.

Jason looked away from him and was instantly bombarded by some people who must have been his old friends from Camp Jupiter.

"Ouch—Gwen, Bobby, you're both breaking my neck—" came Jason's strangled yelp.

"Anytime, Twinkle Toes!" a boy answered cheerfully. "You've gotten taller..."

"Aw, thanks," Jason sarcastically answered, brushing off his shirt. "I really needed to be sent to the infirmary the first minute I come back to Camp Jupiter."

Percy grabbed her shoulders. "Annabeth...Nico's taken by Gaea."

"_What?__!_" Annabeth almost screeched. She started panicking inwardly. That made _two_ of them gone...

Percy knit his eyebrows. "Yeah, I know. He was searching for the Doors of Death."

"N-no," Annabeth stammered. "I—it's not just that." She saw the sleeping face in her dreams, the threatening voice of the earth goddess filling her head. _With lies_, she silently prayed. _It's not true_.

"Why? What?" Percy's expression became even more confused. "Did something happen to camp?" His tone had a touch of concern in it now.

Annabeth shifted her weight from leg to leg. "Um...not really. Well, Gaea's minions have been trying to break into camp for a while, but nothing has really happened to the camp. It's the Hunters."

"Oh?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "Did they win Capture the Flag again?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No."

Percy chuckled. "Too bad I wasn't there to see it. They _lost_? That's a first—"

"No. They didn't come to camp to play Capture the Flag." Annabeth's voice shook. "They're in disarray. There's talk about disbanding. Artemis is gone, held back by Zeus's orders. He found out what she was doing, still helping her Hunters, and Zeus...well, did the godly equivilant of sending the moon goddess to her room. Besides, Thalia's disappeared, too, so they don't have a leader, godly nor mortal."

"And?" Percy's eyes searched her face for answers. "What else?"

Annabeth's eyes flicked around her to make sure nobody was listening and lowered her voice. "I think that she and Nico are both being...controlled. At least, that's what the dream said."

"Dream? What dream?"

"Oh..." Annabeth exasperately sighed. "I'll tell you later. Why don't you introduce me to your...new friends?" She sincerely hoped that no girl had taken a liking to Percy.

Percy hesitated, not quite wanting to let go of the train of where the conversation was going. But he gave in, and Annabeth was grateful for that.

"But tell me later," Percy insisted. "I have something to tell you, too."

"All right," Annabeth agreed heavily. She wasn't anticipating that moment. "But what d'you have to tell me?"

Percy pursed his lips. "Come on. I'll show you to Hazel and Frank."

He quickly walked away to a Chinese-ish boy and a girl with curly hair, and Annabeth was left wondering what made him feel as reluctant as she did about telling her dream. What was he hiding?


End file.
